Home > Factory Productivity and Scheduling > Introduction > Terminology
Terminology
The following terminology is used throughout Empower
The Account version is the part of Empower Cloud, where you can set up new User Logins, change passwords etc.
See
Each Task has an Actual Time which is the time actually worked on the Task.
See
An Administrator is a high level security role.
See
Tasks are Assigned (or allocated) to a number of Employees or a number of Work Centers.
An Attachment is any type of file that can be attached to a Product in a particular Job. For example you may attach a drawing or a spreadsheet. You can have an unlimited number of Attachments for each Product. Attachments can also be attached to a Product (as opposed to a Product in a particular Job) which will then automatically be added to that Product in all Jobs that have that product in them.
See
Each Task has a Budgeted Time which is the time you expect it to be completed in. For example you may expect that the time to assemble a table is 80 minutes.
See
Capacity is a measure of the amount of work that can be carried out in a time frame (e.g. if you have 1 person in your assembly area working an 8 hour day - you may say you have an assembly capacity of 8 hours per day.
See
Scheduling Capacity
Checklists are lists of questions to be answered by Employees with either with a Yes or No or a comment.
See
Checklists
Employees Clock In at the start of the day and Clock Out at the end of the day and lunch time.
See
Factory Clockin and Out
A Company Vacation is a day that your business is closed - no Tasks will be scheduled on a Company Vacation.
See
A Downtime is a Task that includes non productive times such as overheads.
See
An Employee is a person (whether they are employed by you or not) who you want to track their time.
See
Setting Up Employees
An Employee Group is a group or team of Employees that always work on (and always Start and Finish) Tasks at the same time.
See
Employee Groups
This is the version of Empower Time Track that Employees use to track their time.
See
Factory Role
Facial recognition allows for a camera to identify an Employee.
See
Facial Recognition
A Gantt Chart is a type of graphical bar graph that displays Tasks, dates and related information based on the Schedule.
See
Gantt Charts
A Job is piece of work. Usually it is something you get from your Customer and often a Job will result in you sending your Customer an invoice or an account. An Job can comprise of one or more Products.
Each Job needs a unique description that Empower Time Track calls the Job Number. Your organization may know the Job Number as the job name in your business.
See
Jobs
A Job Group is a group of Jobs to be reported on. For example you may have a Customer who wants a fit out of a multi level apartment building at 15 Smith Street. You may have multiple Jobs (level 1 Job, Level 2 Job, Level 3 Job, etc) and the Job Group may be called Smith Street or it may have a contract number etc.
See
Job Group
The Job Number is the unique name or number given to a Job - you may know this as the job name.
See
Jobs
Kanban originated in Japan at Toyota in the 1950s to support lean manufacturing and just in time manufacturing. Empower provides the ability to create and print Kanban cards.
A Leave Type is the name for a type of leave – examples could be Annual Leave, Sick Leave, etc.
You can set up an unlimited number of leave types and name them whatever you wish.
See
Set Up Leave Types
Employees Log In and Log Out of Tasks – this is how Actual Time is recorded.
See
Factory Login and Log out
This version of Empower Time Track provides full setup, edit, control and reporting facilities.
See
Management Role
Empower has a phone app available from the Google Play store.
See
Phone App
A Process is a manufacturing operation – examples of Processes are cut, assemble, paint, etc. You can have an unlimited number of Processes and name them whatever you wish.
See
Setting Up Processes
A Process Group is a group of Processes. For example you may decide to have a Process Group called Machine Shop. And you may have a various Processes in that Process Group, e.g. Cut, Edge, Press, etc.
See
Process Groups
Products are items you manufacture. They can be complete Products or parts of complete Products.
See
Products
A Product Group is a grouping of Products or Product Types. For example you may decide to have a Product Group called Tables. And you may have a various Products in that Product Group, e.g. board table, kitchen table, etc.
See
Product Groups
A Project is a grouping, a batch or a run of Tasks. Several Tasks e.g. cutting table tops or several different Tasks e.g. cut panel, edge band panel and assemble can be grouped together into a single Task called a Project. Projects can be Assigned to one or more Employees.
See
A Rework is a Task required to be done again due to an error or mistake that was made.
See
Rework
Empower provide fast and easy to create Schedules. Scheduling allows you to create an unlimited number of customizable reports - both tabular and graphical that report on required Task completion dates so you can meet deadlines and support Capacity Planning. Schedule Types can be set up to schedule backwards from a date or forwards from a date or a combination of both forward and backward.
See
Introduction to Scheduling
View Schedule
A sequence is a type of link between two Tasks - for example imagine making something that has two steps - Step one that must be started before Step 2. It is possible to set up a Sequence between Tasks - eg Task 2 cannot be started until Task 1 has been started.
See
Sequencing
Auto Sequencing
Normally an Employee can only work on one Tasks at a time. Simultaneous Tasks allows the Employee to work on more than one Task. You can set the maximum number of Tasks that can be worked on simultaneously.
See
Introduction to Projects
Simultaneous Tasks
Special Instructions are instructions that can be read by the Employee in the factory each time the green button is selected in the Job Start Stop page.
See
Special Instructions
When using Scheduling and Capacity Planning, Tasks can be split across multiple days eg a 24 hour Task to be Finished on Friday can be split in 3 to have 8 hours each on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
See
Split Tasks
Smoko breaks are tea/coffee/morning and afternoon tea breaks that Employees have. Empower allows for the enforcement of strictly enforced Smoko Times - for more information see
See
Strict Smoko Times
Smoko Breaks
A Sub Factory is a part of your organisation. You may think of a Sub Factory as a separate Factory in a separate physical location, or a department, or a group of Employees. Sub Factories allow you to filter out or see only selected Employees. A Sub Factory can have multiple Work Centers in it.
See
Sub Factories
Work Centers
A Task is a manufacturing step carried out by an Employee to make a Product – examples of Tasks are “Cut Table Legs” or “Assemble Table”. Tasks have Actual Times and Budgeted Times and Task Statuses associated with them. A Task can be Assigned (or given) to one or more Employees.
See
Tasks
Each Task has a Status which can be Yet to Start, On Hold, Active or Finished.
See
Tasks
The amount of time left on a Task, e.g. if a Task has a budget of 5 hours and that Task has been worked on (the Actual Time) for 3 hours, the Time Left is 5 - 3 = 2 hours.
Track Reports allows you to create an unlimited number of easily customized graphical reports that report on Job and Task statuses for specific Processes that you choose.
See
Introduction to Track Reports
Underlying Tasks are Tasks that are grouped together to make up a Project.
See
Projects
Introducing Tasks
A Work Center is a group of Employees.
See
Work Centers
Sub Factories
See also
|